Style won...

The best team won, and it would be hard to refute that, since the German team could not cope with the speed, skill and style of the Spanish. It has been a while since attractive, attacking football garnered the prize it deserves, and you can say that it was worth the wait. The Spanish team that came to this Euro2008 proved their credentials over and over again. They won all their matches, and improved as the tournament progressed. In the group stages, they let in one goal per match, but they managed to plug the holes in the defence and kept 3 consecutive clean sheets in the quarter-final, semi-final and final, against Italy, Russia and Germany respectively.

The entire team played well, and it is hard to single out a single player as the Man of the tournament, although Casillas, Torres, Senna, Villa, Fabregas, Xavi, Xavi Alonso, and Iniesta all come close. For me, I think the real Man of the Tournament is Aragones. His tactics and ability to make the players gel was the key for this victory. Being able to substitute Torres and keep Fabregas on the bench, being able to bring a previously uncapped player (Cazorla), and being able to take off both Fabregas and Torres in the final, all of these showed his belief in his team, and his faith in the might of the Spanish Armada. Of course, it helped that the players themselves were all winners at youth level, and perhaps what they said was true : they had that winning mentality that all champions have.

This team is still young, so hopefully we can see them adding the World Cup to this trophy. Till 2010, adios!

『The first and most important step toward success is the feeling that we can succeed.』
~Nelson Boswell